Rating: PG
Beta: by hhertzof
Spoilers: SJS audios Buried Secrets and Fatal Consequences, mentions of something in SJA
Summary: At last, Sarah finds out what Harry was doing when he went missing. She might wish she hadn't, though.
Notes: First there was Dream a Little Dream, then there was the prequel, The Last Dinner, then I wrote a sequel, The Scottish Cottage. This is the sequel in what is now looking suspiciously like a series.

Sarah was in a car going along a street with identical houses on either side. Every single one of them had a blue door and identical sets of red flowers in the front. She couldn't work out who was in the front of the car but when she looked down she could see herself in the back. It should have been odd, but seemed perfectly normal.

As she watched, the white top she wore turned red, starting from the bottom and working up to the top. As if the colour was coming from there, her face grew whiter. The red colour was spreading to the inside of the car until everything she could see was red, just her face standing out.

Sarah woke up with a gasp, glad her room was dark enough she couldn't make out any colours except for the red numbers on her alarm clock. She wondered if seeing that had triggered her dream, but she'd had the clock for years. She thought she'd seen that exact house before and remembered it was opposite the one the aliens had been living in. That certainly didn't ease the feeling of panic the nightmare had brought on.

With a growing feeling of dread, she got out of bed and crept down the hall to where Harry was sleeping on the sofa, now River was occupying Sarah's spare room. There was a streetlight outside, so the room wasn't that dark and she could easily see where Harry slept. She couldn't say exactly why she felt Harry had something to do with the way she was feeling, since they'd established this telepathy between them went the other way, but just knew he did.

She bent over and put a hand on his shoulder. Instantly he was awake and sitting up.

"You shouldn't be standing," was all he said, and she could swear she felt his worry.

She hesitated, unsure of what was going on. He reached out to put one arm around her waist and pull her down. She fell half on his lap. Not caring, she put her arms round him and hugged him tight.

"I'm fine, Harry, really."

He sighed and she felt his breath blow her hair against her neck. The worry she had felt before now abated, but she realised, so had the background noise she hadn't quite been aware of, but had been there since she woke up. She wondered if this was what Harry had been experiencing since River extended the Doctor's block.

"I think this telepathy is going both ways," she whispered. Although it didn't explain why she was only experiencing it now.

"It must be something to do with the attack."

She pulled back to look at him. "But you can control it."

He shook his head. "I don't know how."

"It could be useful." Not that she liked the idea now any better than she had when they'd first discovered this, but she could see the possibilities - especially when their next move would involve going into danger again.

"You're not going." He had to be reading her thoughts, not just her feelings now, he was answering so many of her questions before she asked them.

"You're not the boss of me."

"I am while you're recovering from being stabbed."

She was gearing herself up for another argument when she remembered what she'd felt when she woke up. And that they'd had similar arguments not so long ago, just the other way round. So instead she laid her head against his shoulder. He tightened his arms around her in response.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Sarah found that the measured beat of Harry's heart was sending her back to sleep. That and it was nearing dawn.

"Back to bed," he said, and she nodded and yawned.

He picked her up easily and carried her back to her room, which she didn't complain about. It helped a little that she now had some ammunition the next time she was worried about him.

~*~*~

Josh was back again the next day, but Harry immediately sent him out on errands. Sarah itched to get out after the bad people again, before they had the chance to get very far, but Harry apparently had a plan that he wasn't letting anyone else in on yet. No matter how much Sarah badgered him, he just told her to wait - something she wasn't good at at the best of times.

It didn't help that she was used to being in charge of this sort of thing, but this time Harry was because he had more knowledge of the situation. She uncharitably wondered if that was the real reason he hadn't quite managed to tell her everything. That he'd appropriated her assistant didn't help, although if Josh did move to Switzerland she would have to get used to not being able to call on him any time she needed him.

It was dusk by the time Harry was satisfied. He had pointed out they needed to do this in the dark really, which Sarah couldn't disagree with. They were assembled in Sarah's lounge where Harry took charge.

"This," he said, leaning forward to place what looked like a grenade down on the coffee table, "is something UNIT have cooked up for us. The gas released should only affect the aliens, but we have gas masks just in case." He gestured towards where the two gas masks that had been delivered by someone in uniform earlier, had been laid down on the floor next to the coffee table.

Sarah nodded, although she had noticed the discrepancy between number of people and the number of gas masks and decided not to comment yet.

"We'll have K-9 outside," he continued, "to guard against the telepathic attack, if they use it again."

"Affirmative," K-9 put in, tail wagging.

Sarah grinned at K-9, as Harry reached down and patted him absently. "Then Josh and I will go in and release one of these grenades. Once they're subdued, we'll assess the situation and get the Nomads out."

Josh reached for the grenade. Harry frowned at him, and Josh retracted his arm, just as his fingers brushed against it.

"What are we going to do with them?" Sarah asked, wondering what had been going on between Harry and Josh while she'd been ill. She had been considering getting a closer look at the grenade herself, but thought better of it and picked up one of the gas masks herself.

"We'll take them to UNIT temporarily, since it's secure. We'll drop River off there on the way."

River, who was sat quietly on the floor next to K-9, looked up at Harry. Sarah wondered if it was coincidence or whether she had recognised the sound of her name.

Harry smiled at River. "It's not safe for her to stay here on her own in case the other Nomads work out where she is. I have another team who'll go in after us and extract them."

"Who?" Sarah wondered whether the team would be from UNIT or NATO.

Harry just shook his head and took the gas mask from her.

She'd already guessed it might not be for her, so she asked the more important question she'd been putting off for fear of bad news. "What about me?"

He put the gas mask carefully back on the floor. Sarah could recognise Harry's stalling tactics when she saw them, so she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "You'll be in the car with K-9."

That was a slight improvement on what she'd been expecting, but it still wasn't enough. "What? Harry..."

"Or you can stay here if you like." His tone brooked no argument, but that never usually stopped her.

"I'm better now and perfectly capable of doing this, just the same as you are." Although she was focused on Harry, she saw Josh eying them warily.

He folded his arms. "Who's the doctor here, you or me?"

She sighed and gave in. "Okay, whatever you want." It wasn't like she had a choice after all. She was just glad he'd stopped complaining that she was walking around and not using her wheelchair any more.

Harry looked suspiciously at her, but said nothing more on the subject.

~*~*~

Half an hour later, once it was properly dark, they were back at the house. Harry went out first, to check if the house was still occupied. Sarah turned in her seat to watch him go, and saw Josh do the same thing in the back. She could feel the adrenalin running through her veins, even though she probably wouldn't get a chance to go anywhere.

This time, Harry walked boldly up to the front door and knocked. After a minute there was no reply and he peered through the windows. Sarah held her breath, but nothing happened. Instead, Harry put his shoulder to the front door and it opened on the second attempt. Once he was inside, Sarah could no longer see him, and she considered whether it was worth incurring Harry's wrath to send Josh after him. She was about to ask when she clearly heard Harry say, "I'm alright."

She smiled, thinking she had been right that this telepathy would be useful. She couldn't resist the urge to sing, "I told you so," across their link and she felt Harry's resulting amusement.

The house was clearly empty and she sat back with a sigh. "They're not there," she said for Josh's benefit.

He frowned. "How do you know? Anything could be going on in there."

She turned to face him. "Harry and I are currently telepathically linked. Thanks to River."

He raised his eyebrows.

"It's temporary. I hope," she added.

He sighed and looked back at the house. "So what now?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"I think the neighbours might be getting suspicious."

She sat up. "What? Where?" That was the last thing they needed.

"The house to the left." Josh pointed. "I saw something move anyway."

She frowned. It had been empty the day before, she was sure. Then she realised. "They're next door!"

"What?"

"They're next door, Josh, go!" She practically pushed him out of the car.

Although they'd already lost the element of surprise, Josh ran to the house, Harry appearing out of the one he'd been in, and joining him at the front door.

"Do your thing, K-9." They hadn't shown any signs of being attacked yet, but since Harry and Josh already had the front door open, she wasn't taking any risks.

"Affirmative, Mistress."

She could tell it was working because she could no longer feel anything from Harry, which was frustrating because she had no way of knowing what was happening in that house. She turned to look at K-9, who she could see, and she spotted Joshs's gas mask lying on the back seat. She swore under her breath, but it was too late now, she just had to hope the gas grenade didn't affect humans.

The wait was interminable, but at last she saw movement. However, it was not of two people running; instead it was Harry carrying Josh over his shoulder. Sarah no longer cared what Harry thought, and she got out of the car and ran towards where Harry was placing Josh on the ground.

Distantly she registered shouts and people emerging from a black 4x4 parked further down the road, but she ignored them. "Josh!" she shouted, as she ran, coming to a stop beside where he lay.

Harry didn't even pause in checking Josh's vital signs as he shouted up at her, "Sarah, stop that, I can't think."

K-9 must have exhausted his limit with the telepathic barrier and she was too far away now to see if he could put it up again. She took a deep breath and turned away, hands over her mouth and eyes closed, trying to get her emotions under control, but it wasn't easy.

"If you have your phone, you could make yourself useful and call an ambulance."

She'd left it in the car, so she walked back over, sat in the passenger seat and dialled 999. She managed to keep her voice calm as she told them an edited version of what had happened and where they were. Fortunately, they couldn't have been far away because they promised to be there in five minutes.

Sarah decided it was probably better all round if she stayed where she was. She didn't take her eyes off Josh, but fretted quietly. K-9 was dark and quiet in the back, having exhausted his energy supply.

Harry joined her once the ambulance had left with Josh on board.

"How is he?" she asked.

He started the car and set off after the ambulance without looking at her. "I don't know."

That certainly didn't make her feel any better and she was quiet, worrying, as they followed the ambulance to the hospital.

~*~*~

After a teary phone call - on both sides - to Josh's mother, Sarah went back to the waiting room, where Harry stood reading the flyers pinned up on the noticeboard. Sighing, she sat down next to where he stood and leaned forward, her head in her hands. Waiting for news about whether a friend was going to live or die was especially hard and it didn't get any easier with practice.

Harry sat down next to her and put one arm around her shoulders. She leaned over to rest against him, but it didn't really make her feel that much better. She'd had to call Josh's parents, as it would take them a while to get here, but she had put off calling Nat. She told herself it was because she was waiting for more news, but in truth she just couldn't face it yet. Harry had offered, but she'd known Josh for longer and it should be her job.

It seemed like an eternity that they sat there before a doctor came along. Sarah stood up quickly, ignoring the twinge in her stomach. But all the he told them was that Josh was stable. Sarah sat back down with a sigh, but Harry stepped forward and asked for more details. Presumably, he understood the details, because Sarah didn't. She knew by now, though, that 'stable' meant he wasn't in danger of dying just yet.

They were allowed in to see him, at least, and Sarah sat at his bedside, holding Josh's hand and listening to monitors beep. She wondered how much time he'd spent doing this for her after she was stabbed. It wasn't really helping her - it was just another form of inactivity, just closer to Josh - but she didn't want to leave him. It was her fault he had got involved, after all.

"Can we get a doctor from UNIT to look at him?" she asked Harry, when he came in and stood in the doorway. "At least we could tell them exactly what it was he was gassed with."

He nodded. "I've just been organising that."

She nodded.

"Come on, we should go home, get some sleep." He came up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head. "I won't sleep."

"You don't know until you try."

"I can't leave him." She squeezed Josh's hand, hoping against hope for some movement, but there was nothing.

"They'll call you if there's any change. Come on." He held out a hand.

She didn't really have the energy to argue any more, so she took it and let him lead her back to the car, and home.

~*~*~

Once she'd plucked up her courage and rung Nat - who was in Brighton, although she wasn't answering any questions about that - Sarah curled up on the and listened to Harry's conversations on the phone without hearing anything he said.

Afterwards, he came and sat at the other end of the sofa. "They're all okay," he said. "We can go and see them tomorrow."

She nodded. The aliens they'd gone to rescue were important, of course, but she just couldn't be interested in them while she worried about Josh.

He reached out a hand to place it on her ankle.

"Don't," she said, before he could say anything.

He withdrew the hand and went into the kitchen.

Sarah put the television on, not even registering what she was watching. Harry came back in with some tea, which she managed to choke down, and they sat in silence for the rest of the night.

~*~*~

The next morning Sarah woke up feeling distinctly uncomfortable. When she turned over she realised it was because she still had all her clothes on. Harry must have put her to bed when she at last fell asleep. She turned over to see K-9 hovering by her bed, who told her Harry was in the spare room, when she asked.

She wasn't really in the mood to face another day like the previous night, but she was anxious to see how Josh was, so it was still early when they set off.

They stopped off at UNIT, now in a different location from when the Doctor worked there. Sarah could see River was looking happier.

"When will it be safe to remove the connection between us?" she asked Harry.

"Their enemies are dead," he replied, "so River can do it now."

Sarah frowned. "What happened in there?"

Harry looked slightly embarrassed. "They were fine when I left, just unconscious. UNIT took these guys, Torchwood took the other, and...I don't know what happened. But I intend to find out."

"Who's Torchwood?" As much as they'd hurt her and Harry and the other Nomads, she didn't automatically want to see them dead either. She was sure that Harry would give these mysterious people grief over it, though.

"They deal with aliens."

"Hang on, how did you know about them and not me?"

He shrugged. She glared at him, but he wouldn't volunteer any more information. Fine - she still had her sources, she'd find out on her own.

It was as simple to remove the connection between them as it had been to set up in the first place: River just touched both their foreheads. Sarah couldn't say that she felt any different, although Harry confirmed it had worked.

~*~*~

Afterwards they went back to the hospital. Josh was still in the same room, although he had Nat and Mike with him. Sarah paused as she looked in, then turned and walked away before either of them saw her. If they were having some sort of reconciliation then she didn't want to get in their way.

"Come on, let's get a cup of coffee." She dragged Harry away before he could protest.

A few minutes later they were seated at a colourless, scratched table in the hospital canteen with a lukewarm coffee each.

"I don't want to have an argument" -not in a public place anyway- "but why are you still keeping things from me?" They both had their secrets, but this was important because these secrets could have got them all killed. Josh still might die.

Harry shrugged. "I signed a piece of paper promising I wouldn't."

She narrowed her eyes, not convinced he was taking this seriously enough. "But once you took me to the house then surely I could have found out everything anyway?"

"Some of it." He put his cup down and sighed. "NATO doesn't trust you. I had trouble getting you in to start with, and then only if I made sure you only found out the need to know stuff."

She took a big gulp of her coffee, to reign in her anger. "But you were still secretive after that, not telling me what Josh was up to until you had to."

He leaned forward. "Maybe you shouldn't have broken into Porton Down. Then I might have been allowed to tell you more."

She tended to forget sometimes that Harry had to report to his superiors and had a tendency to do as he was told. Unless she was the one giving the orders. "I was looking for you."

"I know." He reached out to take her hand. "I'm grateful for that, but you still shouldn't have done it."

Intellectually, she knew that. It hadn't got her anywhere when she had done it, but she hadn't been able to just dismiss it as an option. So she wrapped her fingers around his in forgiveness and changed the subject. "Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you while you were captured?"

He let go of her hand. "No."

"But the nightmares you were having. Were they all caused by the bad people or were some of them real?"

He hesitated, studying his drink. "I don't know."

"Harry..." she began, but was interrupted by Nat approaching and calling her name.

She turned round "Nat?"

"It's nothing about Josh," Nat was quick to say, "just that his parents have arrived."

"Oh." She sat back, relieved it wasn't bad news, but wishing it had been good. "That was quick."

"You forget, Josh has pots of money now."

"Oh, yes." It was easy to forget. Josh had plenty of money before his father died too, but now he had more than he knew what to do with, it hadn't changed his life in the slightest.

Harry's mobile rang then, distracting Sarah, although most of his side of the conversation consisted of 'Yes, sir's. Nat went to get a drink and Sarah finished hers.

"I have to go," he said, when he put the phone down.

"I thought you might. I'll stay here."

He nodded and left. Nat took his place opposite her at the table.

"I spoke to Mike," Nat said, and Sarah didn't tell her she already knew. "NATO offered me a job working for them, and he's willing to get back together if I work for them and not for you."

"Well, that's..." Any man who gave Sarah an ultimatum like that would find himself dropped before he'd finished saying it. She reminded herself Nat was different. "What did you tell him?"

Nat suddenly found her hot chocolate interesting and Sarah already knew what she was going to say, so she forestalled it. "I know you were never keen on getting involved, so perhaps it's for the best."

Nat took a sip, grimaced and pushed the plastic cup away from her. "That was partly because I didn't know what was really going on. You withheld so much from us."

Sarah winced, finding herself on the opposite side of the conversation she'd just had with Harry. "I know, I'm sorry. I've been doing it so long it became second nature. And I wasn't sure you'd believe me; sometimes I don't quite believe it myself."

Nat nodded. "I suppose I can understand that."

"But we can still be friends." She'd managed without Nat before, she could do it again.

Nat smiled. "Of course."

~*~*~

The next day Josh woke up, apparently with no ill-effects from the gas.

"You're looking like your normal self." Sarah smiled as she caught the tail end of Josh chatting up one of the nurses. "How do you feel?" She sat on the chair next to his bed.

"Absolutely fine. Except for not being able to remember anything that happened after we left your flat."

She smiled. He looked like his normal self - she swore he had been a sort of grey colour when he was unconscious. "It doesn't matter any more, it's all sorted out. The bad people are dead, don't ask me what happened, all Harry will tell me is that Torchwood had something to do with it, whoever they are."

"Sounds like a mystery that needs investigating." He sipped some water from the glass on the bedside table.

"You know me too well."

He grinned.

"Apparently, it's meant that the civil war on their home planet is over, and the rest can go home. They can even use the bad people's ship to get them there, since they helpfully buried it on Earth for UNIT to find." Sarah had been glad to hear that when Harry told her the previous night, even though it meant she no longer needed to do the job they'd employed her for. It might have been interesting to see how humans and aliens could live together, but evidently it was not to be. Perhaps she would get another chance in the future "So everyone's going to live happily ever after."

His eyes flicked to the door. Sarah looked round to see the back of Nat disappearing into the distance.

"So, you've heard about Nat," he said.

She nodded. "I'm just glad she and Mike have worked it out at last." At least Nat would be happy and she deserved it, especially given what she'd been through with Luca.

He picked up a small strip of paper from the bedside table and waved it at her. She realised it was a flight ticket. "And I'm going to Switzerland."

She felt a funny feeling deep in her stomach that had nothing to do with her wound. Although she had persuaded him to go, now he really was, selfishly, she didn't quite want him to. "You've decided at last?"

He smiled at her wording. "With a little help from my mum. And, you know, her worrying about me. I don't think I hate it as much as I did."

She smiled. She wouldn't begrudge Josh that. "I'm glad. But I'll miss you."

"I'll email you. And phone you. We'll probably talk more than we do now."

She laughed and hugged him, but wished he and Nat weren't both leaving. She'd have no friends nearby except K-9 at this rate.

~*~*~

Home seemed empty after that with no Nat, no Josh, and River gone for good. In the lounge Harry's clothes were laid out on the sofa as he packed them.

"I'm going back to work tomorrow," he said.

She didn't quite trust herself to speak - it almost felt like everyone was leaving her.

"I'll see you for our annual dinner."

She nodded.

He stopped to look at her and frowned. "Sarah?"

"Oh, I'm fine, it's just after all the adrenalin of the past few days it's hard to know what to do with myself now."

"Oh, you'll think of something, I'm sure." He smiled.

He was right, there was Torchwood to investigate for a start, not that she was going to tell him that. She sat on the end of the sofa and watched him zip up his bag. He'd brought hardly anything and she wondered if he'd always been good at travelling light or his time in the Navy had taught him that.

"I thought, until I found out about the bad people, that you might have PTSD." He'd finished, but didn't move. She bit her lip. "If you do, you will see someone about it, won't you?"

"I promise." He picked up his bag. "And you won't forget your out-patient appointments."

She smiled. She'd have to trust him on that and nag him about it later. "Being as you told K-9 when they were, no."

He smiled back, kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "I think there's something for you in the spare room."

She frowned, and when he'd gone, went to investigate it. K-9 was already there.

Her spare room was almost entirely taken up by something that reminded her of the TARDIS console. It was certainly big enough, with panels and glowing coloured components. She had no idea what it actually was, though. "K-9?"

"Mistress?" He came closer to nudge her legs.

"What is it?" She couldn't take her eyes off it.

"A computer, Mistress. From the Doctor."

"From the Doctor?" She took a step forward into the room, putting her hands on the edge of the computer as she leaned closer.

She jumped as a voice came from it. "Hello, Sarah Jane."

She hesitated for a minute, wanting to know more about it. "What do you know about Torchwood?"

A symbol came up on the screen, before it was replaced by a page of notes and the computer recited the history of the organisation to her. She smiled and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

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Fandom: Doctor Who | Type: Character: Harry Sullivan, Character: Josh Townsend, Character: Nat Redfern, Character: Original, Character: Sarah Jane Smith, Length: Long story, Series: Dream, Type: Gen | Link

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